AN: This chapter is a little shorter than the others. The next few chapters will probably see less of the Manoso family and focus on Cami for a bit. Thanks for those that have reviewed! I don't own them, I play. Please R&R!

Chapter 12

Family History and Taser Guns

The next day Cami found herself exploring the house. Richard had been right; there were no electronics that she could get to. She found an impressive library, a gym, a pool outside, a garden. All in all this looked like a home to the casual observer, but given that Cami was not a casual observer, she wanted to get into the places that had been locked away from her. Any room that she was not allowed in was locked tightly. Christopher was nowhere to be seen, but he had men there that would not hesitate to make themselves known if she crossed a boundary. She was allowed to walk down to the beach, but that was it. She wasn't allowed near the water. Resentment bubbled deep in her chest.

She had found at breakfast if she wanted to eat, she would be in the dining room on time. If she was later the food would be gone and she would be waiting until the next meal. He was strict on regulating things here and it seemed that he would regulate her life whether she liked it or not.

By the time lunch rolled around she hurriedly made her way into the dining room and found Richard calmly helping himself to sandwiches. He looked up at her and she felt the tingle race up her spine. "Did you enjoy your exploration of the house?"

"There's nothing here." She muttered sitting across from him.

"Oh it's here." Richard grinned. "But neither of us are getting to it."

Cami sighed and nibbled on a sandwich. "Haven't you ever snooped?"

"I've snooped." He nodded and the look on his face was cold with old emotions. "And I've paid for it."

"Why would he hold you here if you're his brother?"

Richard leaned back and looked at her. "Half-brother. Same father, different mothers. Our father was very much in love with his first wife. They had Chris and it seemed like an ideal life. He was a good man when you overlooked his activities that gave our family its fortune. When Chris was fourteen his mother died from cancer and both of them grieved for a long time. My mother was a secretary for our father. He was feeling lonely and she was a good woman who offered a friendly shoulder for him to lean on. I'm sure you can see where this is going." At Cami's nod he continued, "He married her, and Chris was displeased to say the least. He felt that Dad was dishonoring his mother's memory. A man should grieve for the rest of his life. That is his attitude. Anyway, a year later I was born.

"Dad died when I was four. Mom took me to live in an apartment in Miami. She didn't want Christopher to have any influence over me. He was already dabbling in questionable ethics as it was. Mom was left a comfortable portion of Dad's fortune. She was careful to invest it." He smiled indulgently at the memory of his mother. "She was great with finances. Then Chris came around one day offering her a job. She told him to take a hike. She wanted nothing to do with him and wanting him to have nothing to do with me. But he knew he had her where he wanted when he pointed out that something terrible could happen to me if she looked away for even an instant."

"Oh god." Cami whispered.

"My mother was stuck on his payroll for six years. One night there was a 'random' shooting and she was killed." Richard's look turned dark as he thought about the following events. "Rest assured, I'm sure it anything but random. I know for a fact Chris had something to do with it because my mother had given the government information on him."

"Is he mob?"

"Might as well be." He sighed. "No. He is very dangerous, but the government hasn't been able to pin anything on him. They've tried. Anyway, Chris came for me that night. He told me he'd given our father a death bed promise to keep me safe. I didn't trust him when I was ten and I don't trust him twelve years later."

"What did you do?"

"Rebelled. I got into gangs, did drugs, anything that would get me out of his grasp." Richard shrugged. "It was futile in the long run. Chris has a hand in many ventures so I was always kept out of jail and brought back to where ever he chose to live at the time."

"So you gave up?"

Richard glared at her. "I have never given up. I'm placating him right now until I can find a way to get away from him permanently."

"Oh." Cami took a sip of water. "It's just you and him?"

"Not always. We had a sister." He looked uncomfortable. "She passed when I was eight."

A lot of death for him. Cami's heart broke. She reached over and took his hand in hers. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that."

Richard looked surprised at the sympathy. He squeezed her hand. "Tell me what it's like being Carlos Manoso's daughter."

"Wonderful and aggravating." She smiled. "It's wonderful because we have a great family dynamic. It's aggravating because both my parents have enemies so we tend to be overprotected a lot."

They had both been protected whether they liked it or not, Richard realized it. The difference was that she had been protected out of love while he had been protected as a family obligation. But she had taken his hand and offered her sympathy for his loss when she had known him for less than twenty four hours. There was something resiliently beautiful about her. He could tell people were probably drawn to her. He was drawn to her from the moment he'd spotted her last night.

And he wanted to have a taste of her.

…

Four days.

Four days since Cami had been taken, Julie thought as she stood under the shower head willing the heat and warmth of the shower to erase the tension. Four days since Elise had put herself into RangeMan. Two days since CJ was allowed home and was under his own lockdown due to his injuries.

God she had to be terrified, Julie thought she closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. She had been terrified when Scrog had kidnapped her. She had barely known Ranger but had changed that after that incident.

Strong arms wrapped around her. She leaned into Alan as the steam from the shower engulfed them.

"Alan. I don't know what to do." Julie whispered. "We haven't got any leads whatsoever."

"I know." He sighed and held her tighter.

"I'm worried about Elise. Stephanie hasn't seen her since she moved herself into RangeMan."

"She is in soldier mode." Alan answered. "Chances are Stephanie probably won't see her at all until Cortez is taken out."

"That can't be healthy." She pulled back. Tears were brimming in her eyes. "Alan, one sister is missing and I'm losing the other."

Alan leaned back and cupped her face in his hands. "You're not losing either of them. Whoever took Cami is going to meet the devil if your father has anything to say about it."

"And Elise?" Her chin quivered.

"Elise is being Elise as a soldier." He kissed her softly. "She has to cope like this."

"She needs to come home." Julie said with a sigh.

"That's not going to happen." Alan replied. "Not until this is over."

"I know."

They stayed there holding each other until the water went from hot to cold. Silently they dressed and headed downstairs. Stephanie looked up at them with tired eyes. She had barely slept. Ranger had barely slept. Between finding Cami and trying to keep CJ down so he could heal they were exhausted. On top of that, there was a stupid ball at the end of next week she and Ranger had agreed to go to. Successful businessmen and women were being honored. Ranger was being honored for RangeMan in Miami. Normally she liked to tease Ranger about being his arm candy, but right now she'd like to tell them to fuck off.

"Alan, how is Elise?" Stephanie asked. She had gone to RangeMan to see her daughter, but when she had seen how focused she was she knew she wasn't going to get through to her. Ranger had confirmed her suspicions already.

"FUCK! Where the hell is all the hot water?" CJ's voice boomed through the house.

"Oops." Julie said with a small smile.

Stephanie couldn't help the laugh that came out. It was good to have that moment. Even if it was short lived.

"Alan."

"She's …" Alan shrugged. To him her behavior was perfectly normal. He'd seen it a thousand times when they'd gone on missions. "She's fine."

"Is she eating?"

"Probably."

"Sleeping?"

"Unlikely."

"Taking care of herself at all?"

Alan just stared at her. Luckily Ranger walked into the room at the moment and having heard his wife's question answered, "She's taking care of herself as much as she needs to."

"I have to go." Alan kissed Julie and quickly left the house. He and Randy had come to an agreement two days ago in regards to their captain. If she hadn't left the conference room for at least eight hours then they would forcibly remove her.

When he arrived at RangeMan he found all the team watching her from outside the conference room. Tank, Lester and Bobby were watching them, clearly intrigued as to what was going on.

"So how are we going to do this?" Billy asked. "She's not above hitting us where it hurts if we physically take her down."

"She didn't leave?" Alan guessed.

"Dude." Kyle rolled his eyes at him.

Yeah. Stupid Question, Alan thought.

"She's working herself to the bone. She got more sleep on deadlier missions." Randy said folding his arms over his chest.

"She remembers those missions." Alan said.

"We could try talking to her." Bobby said.

"You tried that two days ago." Victor reminded them. Two days ago when her 'uncles' had gone to step in and try to convince her to take it easy for a night they had dived out of the room from flying objects and threats of tasers and third world countries. Elise was pissed and it was getting ugly.

"Okay. So…Operation Take Captain Down is underway." Billy nodded. "Anyone got a taser gun?"

Lester silently held up the taser gun. "FYI, this doesn't get back to RangeMan. This is to the death."

"Dude." They all nodded in agreement.

"Elise." Randy walked into the conference room first.

She didn't look up at him. "What?"

"Find anything useful?"

"Not yet. We need to get started scouring the different areas he's likely to be hiding." She said. "Damn." She slammed her fist down on the table. "If Trev were here he'd be able to sketch a picture of the bastard for us."

"Elise you've been working four days with no sleep." Randy said. "You've got to get some rest."

"I can rest when this is over." She replied.

"You're not thinking clearly, Captain." Billy voiced from behind Randy.

She turned and faced all of them. "Care to explain that?"

"We're worried about your health." Alan said.

"Worried about my health." She repeated slowly. "We've been through missions that have been worse than this one, sleep was not an option and you're worried about my health now?"

"There are some hindrances in your judgment in this case." Darren said.

Before she had a chance to react she felt the cold metal and sharp zap. "Sonofa—!"

"That was easier than I thought it would be." Billy said looking down at their unconscious captain. "She's really running on nothing if we can get to her like this."

Randy nodded and picked her up. All the men filed out of the room and came face to face with Ranger and Julie. Ranger looked at his daughter in Randy's arms and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Poor thing just passed out at the table." Billy volunteered. "We decided to put her to bed for a while."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Alan hide the taser gun behind his back. Ranger nodded and started on his way. Then he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "You might want to consider tying her down. When she wakes up from that she's going to be pissed."